Halfrauds laughable

[subaqua]

It’s funny I bought them at that same store before tho. No wonder it takes a fecking week to get a couple of broken spokes fixed. This is a standard 700C wheel FFS nothing special .

Wonder why decathlon had boxes of them in the workshop bit ?

 

[Levo-Lon]

Sapim van was outside Terry Wright's cycles the other day..all logo'd up ,very smart.

I guess he wanted a spoke?

 

[Rusty Nails]

Yes, disposable ones, use seven times then abandon. You get them with your weekly shop.

Possibly close if talking about cheaper Apollos, although they generally are not BSOs, but nothing wrong with the Carerra and Boardman bikes that they sell. And they have just got into an agreement to stock Bromptons.

 

[Alwaysbroken]

OK

Sorry but Halfords is huge and let’s not forget that is not the new boy on the block swallowing up the litttle man, Halfords were where my folks bought my Raleigh arena and Grifter for me when I was a nipper.

One stor isn’t necessarily the same as the next & I guess we judge based on our own personal experiences, I get that .

I use my local Halfords for all my bike stuff, even if they have to order it in purely for the convenience of being able to see parts and hand them back if there’s an issue, I’ve just bought 700 28c marathon plus at the store for £23. Find a better deal?
Also creme delta cruisers for £13.45 (touch & go if they’d fit) with an offer to just bring them back if they don’t work out!

Yes I accept that I know more than the spotty kids in they’re bike mechs dept, but hey I’m an old git so I’d expect to, but they bend over backwards to help me every time I go in.

I’ve even snapped a pedal spanner by overwhelming it with a lever and told them so, swapped it no question.

They’re not perfect but nor am I, but I’d rather put cash into a business that I can touch and feel than a faceless WWW.

PS

Also stock spokes in selection of common sizes.

All hail Halfords brislington Bristol.

 

[swee'pea99]

There is no wheel hub bearing standard. It is a similar story to the spoke game above.

Have a look at the list of hub bearings available from Enduro Bearings (.com, I think) to get a feel for "standard". I bet there's 400 variations in there.

Wheel hub bearings are 1/4". There are some that aren't, but 1/4" bearings are standard. A bike shop that doesn't stock them is not much of a bike shop, IMHO.

 

[robgul]

Wheel hub bearings are 1/4". There are some that aren't, but 1/4" bearings are standard. A bike shop that doesn't stock them is not much of a bike shop, IMHO.

You're missing the point here - yes BALLS are pretty consistent for size but more and more wheels now have "sealed bearings" in a multitude of sizes ... and to make it worse quite a few rear wheels even have different sealed bearing sizes either side.

Enduro is just one brand - have a look at Kinetic Bearings ... loads of sizes and then 2, 3 or 4 quality varieties from basic steel to ceramic.

The same applies to headset bearings where not only are sizes different but so is the chamfer - and again loads of frames have differing top and bottom bearings.

Rob

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

The engineering on modern bikes is total crap, IMHO. Stick to vintage steel bikes which have proper ball bearings that you can easily adjust and strip down to regrease or replace. It's just a big con so they can charge you £££ for a new component where a handful of loose steel balls would do the same job at a fraction of the cost and probably last ten times longer as well.

 

[Alwaysbroken]

The engineering on modern bikes is total crap, IMHO. Stick to vintage steel bikes which have proper ball bearings that you can easily adjust and strip down to regrease or replace. It's just a big con so they can charge you £££ for a new component where a handful of loose steel balls would do the same job at a fraction of the cost and probably last ten times longer as well.

Majority of riders have bikes far more advanced than their requirements, but demand & desire has driven the sales into the everyday rider, same as everything, mobiles, cars etc, it’s want rather than need, simpler technology is adequate for most but we all want the best. I’m guilty of that!

That said I’d be nervous watching my boy hitting a 20’ gap jump 12’ under the wheels on a steel frame with ball bearings

 

[Pale Rider]

The young mechanic in my local bike shop has a good reputation as a wheelbuilder.

He's doing two or three a week.

As the manager commented, it's a handy skill to have because it could keep him in a job if things get really difficult.

The shop has a stock of about a dozen sizes of spoke, and they have a simple die to cut a thread for custom lengths.

Not practical for a full wheel, but handy for replacing single spokes.

 

[screenman]

The engineering on modern bikes is total crap, IMHO. Stick to vintage steel bikes which have proper ball bearings that you can easily adjust and strip down to regrease or replace. It's just a big con so they can charge you £££ for a new component where a handful of loose steel balls would do the same job at a fraction of the cost and probably last ten times longer as well.

For some it is not just about money. When we adopt your ways there will not be many jobs about. Out of interest does your employment depend on things being bought.

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

That said I’d be nervous watching my boy hitting a 20’ gap jump 12’ under the wheels on a steel frame with ball bearings

The old stuff must have been pretty well built otherwise they wouldn't have lasted so long and people wouldn't still be keeping them going.
I'm seeing more and more of the modern stuff with suspension and generally poor engineering dumped in skips these days, and less of the proper old-school bikes. Still plenty of the old stuff in regular use on the road though. It's almost like some riders are rejecting a generation of the more recent stuff and just sticking with their simple 25+ year old bikes that cost peanuts to maintain.

 

[Kempstonian]

I don't buy much from Halfords but I have to say I've been impressed with the recent online purchases. I collected them from the local (Bedford) store within a couple of days, which is good enough in most cases.

I did enquire about the cost of truing a wheel up and how long it would take - and the guy asked me if there were any broken spokes... which indicates to me that they probably don't keep them in stock either.

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

For some it is not just about money. When we adopt your ways there will not be many jobs about. Out of interest does your employment depend on things being bought.

There was no shortage of employment when bikes, cars, and lots of other things were far simpler than they are now. Your argument that we all need to spend loads of money buying over-complicated badly designed crap we don't need on an ever-decreasing replacement cycle timeframe just doesn't hold water.

 

[Alwaysbroken]

The old stuff must have been pretty well built otherwise they wouldn't have lasted so long and people wouldn't still be keeping them going.
I'm seeing more and more of the modern stuff with suspension and generally poor engineering dumped in skips these days, and less of the proper old-school bikes. Still plenty of the old stuff in regular use on the road though. It's almost like some riders are rejecting a generation of the more recent stuff and just sticking with their simple 25+ year old bikes that cost peanuts to maintain.

I too have a vintage build, I love it for many reasons, but that does not mean I love my modern bikes less?
There are good and bad bikes but that applies to everything, I love servicing my air shocks & gaining knowledge on bearing sizes etc on my Defy as well, all bought used and home serviced. Good quality is not age related?

Do you drive a Ford popular still or a car laden with ECU’s @ control modules, ABS, Air bags .....

 

[screenman]

There was no shortage of employment when bikes, cars, and lots of other things were far simpler than they are now. Your argument that we all need to spend loads of money buying over-complicated badly designed crap we don't need on an ever-decreasing replacement cycle timeframe just doesn't hold water.

Are you talking about a time when there were far fewer people on the planet.